(The Center Square) — A bipartisan housing package in the Senate includes measures from U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, who spoke about the legislation at a committee hearing.
The Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act of 2025 is the first bipartisan housing markup in nearly two decades, according to Gallego’s office. Included in the package are the senator’s measures, which he said will boost the nation’s housing supply, improve affordability, and strengthen oversight and efficiency of federal housing programs and regulators.
During a Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing on Wednesday, Gallego said he knows what it is like to struggle with affordable housing.
“I grew up not in a great housing situation,” said Gallego. “My first bed was my college dorm room bed in about eight years, and prior to actually leaving for college, I actually helped my mom get her first loan in quite a while, and it was an FHA (Federal Housing Administration) loan.”
Gallego said it was a small, starter home, but it was a place where he knew his family would be safe while he was away at college.
“She would never have gotten a loan if it wasn’t an FHA loan,” said Gallego about his mother.
Now 45 years old, Gallego said there are men and women 10 years his junior who “feel disillusioned” because they cannot buy a home.
“This is Arizona where it used to be a very affordable place,” said Gallego. “We used to have people move to Arizona because it was affordable and now even Arizona is not affordable, and people are finding that no matter where they go, it’s unaffordable, and it really is stopping Americans from achieving that first American dream.”
When discussing reasons for the problem, Gallego said “the market is so distorted,” and acknowledged that some of it is overregulation from the government.
“Some of it is the market in general, some of it is zoning, but at least we in Congress have decided to step up and do something in a bipartisan manner, because we heard that especially in this last election,” said Gallego.
Bills from Gallego that are included in the ROAD Act of 2025 include the Housing Affordability Act, the Housing Supply Expansion Act, the VA Home Loan Awareness Act and the Streamlining Rural Housing Act.
As explained by The Center Square, the Housing Affordability Act would require the Federal Housing Administration to study multifamily loan limits and then grants Housing and Urban Development rule-making authority to adjust those limits to better match housing market costs and enhance affordability. FHA would have input.
The Housing Supply Expansion Act aims to modernize the federal definition of “manufacturing housing” to include modular and prefabricated units not built on a permanent chassis. As explained by Gallego’s office, the idea is to “encourage innovation and expand naturally occurring affordable housing.”
The VA Home Loan Awareness Act is for veterans and seeks to add a disclosure to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s residential loan application forms. This would “ensure veterans are made aware of their home loan benefits,” something Gallego said may provide veterans a more affordable lending option.
The Streamlining Rural Housing Act would direct HUD and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to “coordinate on joint environmental reviews for housing projects” that are funded by those agencies.
“I’m very proud of the bills I put in there,” said Gallego at the hearing. “They’re going to be focusing on streamlining permitting, improving coordination between federal agencies, just fixing outdated language, and I think the country is going to be very glad we did it.”
